Humans are inherently good — at least, that’s what His Holiness the Dalai Lama states in “Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World.”
When I first read this statement in the common room of the College for Higher Tibetan Studies in India, I froze, my eyes continually rereading the same sentence. While I believed in innate goodness, watching global and personal atrocities unfold meant that this goodness was something I had to work consciously to convince myself of. By simply asserting it as truth, seemingly without the need for proof, the Dalai Lama shook the foundations of my approach to the world: Instead of assuming the worst, I could choose to simply believe in the best of humans.
I now approach the world more positively, and it has been essential to my growth as a person and as a student. However, this would not have occurred without my choice to attend Emory University’s Tibetan Mind/Body Sciences study abroad program this past summer.
While I greatly benefited from my experience, fellow students had given up on studying abroad before the opportunity even arose because it seemed frivolous, not seeming to align with their future goals. Even to my friends, it seemed absurd that I went to study Buddhist science in a monastery over the summer when my future goals lead to a doctoral degree in computational medicine. However, studying abroad was anything but useless. I will carry the lessons I learned there throughout my life in balancing relationships, finding community, understanding myself and being at peace.
Indeed, every Emory student could benefit from studying abroad, but that opportunity is lost to so many. In fact, less than three students out of every 200 enrolled in college in Georgia study abroad in a given academic year. While these numbers are higher at Emory with almost 50% of undergraduate students studying abroad — which makes sense given the privileges of being at an elite private institution — these numbers are still startling.
There is a multitude of reasons people choose to not study abroad. While financial considerations are paramount and an especially large obstacle for summer programs with limited aid, semester programs offer full financial aid, and many scholarship programs also promote access. Additionally, some students are not interested in going abroad for an extended period of time for an immersive program.
Yet, even if leaving the country on an official study abroad does not make sense for any reason, the lessons you can learn by pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone are valuable. Exploring new horizons does not necessitate international ones. Opportunities closer to home can still push you outside your comfort zone to learn from new cultures and perspectives.
As I reflect on this past summer, I find myself focusing on one foundational lesson that I work to integrate into everything I do: Live for today as you work toward tomorrow, while remembering the past. Speaking to the monastics, exploring Buddhist doctrine in class and even attending program outings and socializing with my peers emphasized the lesson on balance. This concept aligns with self care and enjoying youth, but it goes deeper than that. It reveals the temporal balance that we must maintain in our lives for growth and, more importantly for high-achieving college students, preventing burnout.
It’s easy to get caught up in the glitz and glamor of our day-to-day lives inundated with screens and instant gratification. As we focus more on those distractions, less and less value is being placed on the past. While in India, I visited the ruins of Hampi. There, I traced footsteps long lost on worn steps carved into the side of the hilltop next to an old Hindu temple. I felt connected to my cultural roots. Throughout the program, small moments such as that one revealed that history lives silently all around us, from the colors we wore, to the foods we ate and to the words we used to communicate or pray. History surrounds us always — we simply need to open our eyes to learn from it, to see ourselves and to guide our steps away from the tragedies of the past.
Most importantly, many Tibetan Buddhist monks I spoke to did not let themselves get caught up in the past, even though most had lost their plans for the future when they had to flee to India. They kept moving forward, not forgetting, but not ruminating. Integrating the past, present and future into one’s life in a productive manner is an easy lesson to preach but far harder to put into practice — even seeming impossible. Yet, the monks did it everyday, and that proved that I could try.
For me, embracing the present meant realizing that not everything has to have a clearly defined material purpose toward a future goal, so I began prioritizing things that brought me joy or contentment: I began cooking more often with people I love, relaxing with a good story, creating art and volunteering to improve youth literacy. Rediscovering this balance changed me and my approach to life.
While every student gains something different from studying abroad or pushing themself outside of their comfort zone even closer to home, no one walks away unchanged — provided they embrace the opportunity to learn.
Before I went to India, my mentors told me that studying abroad is life-changing. While they intended well, that is not exactly true. Your past is not erased after traveling outside of our Emory bubble. Instead, exploring a new set of beliefs or culture provides a new perspective, a chance to understand your personal jurisdiction over your life and an opportunity to understand what it can mean to live your life to the fullest.
For you, it may take you to a high school refugee tutoring program, a cultural enclave in greater Atlanta or across the globe on heart-pounding adventures. My summer took me to the top of Triund, the crisp breeze on my face as I watched the steady mountains and simply breathed.
Sara Garg (26C) is from Johns Creek, Ga.
